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Baseball vs. Crown College

Opening Day Sweep Features No-Hitter and Plenty of Offense

MINNEAPOLIS, Minn. -- The Carleton College baseball team got the 2013 campaign started off with a doubleheader sweep of Crown College. Playing at the Metrodome, the Knights prevailed by scores of 26-5 and 17-0, with the second game featuring a three-pitcher, combined no-hitter for Carleton.

In game one, the Knights pushed across 26 runs, their highest total since a 28-5 triumph over Finlandia University on April 25, 2005. It was tied for the third-most runs in school history, trailing only the Finlandia contest and the 1888 squad’s 35-9 defeat of Northfield.

Carleton scored four times in the opening frame against Crown, pushed across three more runs in the second, and blew the game open with a nine-run fourth frame.

He carried a 1-hitter into the fourth inning, when a trio of errors led to three unearned runs. After the Knights scored six more runs in the fifth, Cole turned the game over to the bullpen.

David Reynolds drove in five runs, and Hayden Tsutsui scored five times.

While Carleton offense continued its assault on the Crown pitchers in game two, it was the Knights’ mound work that was most noteworthy. Starting pitcher Kevin Johnson (Jr./St. Anthony, Minn./DeLaSalle) tossed 5.0 hitless innings before relievers Jackson Tears (Jr./Trabuco Canyon, Calif./JSerra) and Nolan Baker (So./Appleton, Wis./Appleton North) each worked a 1-2-3 frame out the pen.

The Knight hurlers struck out eight batters and nearly combined on a perfect game, facing the minimum 21 batters. The only mistake came during the fourth inning when Johnson hit a batter, but the Storm baserunner was immediately cut down on the basepaths by catcher Jeff Dsida (Jr./Winnetka, Ill./New Trier).

A search of the Carletonian archives revealed that there have been two other no-hitters by the Carleton pitching staff:
• April 4, 1981 -- Paul Baubly ’81 and Barry Sewall ’82 walked 10 but beat Grinnell 5-4
• April 19, 1995 -- Adam Bischoff ’95 kept Hamline in check for a 2-0 victory.

Carleton will face Bethany Lutheran College at the Metrodome on Wednesday, Feb. 20 at 7:30 p.m.